Flooding concerns are easing across Saskatchewan in the wake of this year's runoff.
The situation has stabilized to the point where the province has ceased their practice of daily teleconferences with the media as of Monday, though some localized concerns remain in certain areas including the Northwest.
Patrick Boyle of the Water Security Agency reported Monday, "water levels are declining across the province," though he also cautioned "it will be another week before we see a whole lot of improvement."
A number of communities will continue to be dealing with floodwater over the next several days, according to officials. A total of 15 municipalities/First Nations were under emergency declarations as of Monday.
Those communities under an emergency declaration included the village of Borden, as well as both Onion Lake and Poundmaker First Nations.
Emergency declarations were lifted some time ago for both Maidstone and Radisson, and while Poundmaker was still under an emergency declaration, the situation there had improved enough almost all of the 73 people evacuated from the First Nation were able to return home.
Though the situation had improved in much of the Northwest, officials in the conference call expressed concerns about the area around Blaine Lake and a creek there.
Duane McKay, commissioner of government relations, said that in Blaine Lake and the Wakaw area, they are "still seeing significant water as a result of the snow melt pooling into some of the smaller lakes and now beginning to move itself across the land and from lake to lake."
"That's still causing significant issues with road networks, and some isolation of individuals as a result of lengthy detours or in some cases no ability to get in and out of particular areas," McKay said. They are continuing to respond and assist homeowners in those areas.
There was still some displacement of families in communities that had been impacted by the flood concerns. McKay reported a family of three in Maidstone and a family of four from Poundmaker were still out of their homes as of Monday. As well, one person from Onion Lake First Nation was still evacuated.
Red Cross and Social Services are working with these individuals until they are able to return home.
The news that flooding concerns had eased in much of the province was a marked improvement over the situation seen the week before on roads heading out of North Battleford.
While initially the flood situation began to stabilize in much of the Northwest, the situation on Highway 16 east of Radisson deteriorated suddenly last Tuesday.
That was when water spilled over onto both lanes of the highway, ultimately closing the eastbound lane to traffic and disrupting travel plans for those travelling from the Battlefords to Saskatoon. They were forced to reroute through Blaine Lake (Highways 40 and 12) and Biggar (Highways 4 and 14).
By Friday, however, both lanes of Highway 16 were re-opened, though as of Monday Highway Hotline was reporting there was still some water on that portion of road.
